Personalized Motorized Vehicles (PMVs) have become increasingly popular in the past decade due, in great part, to the societal changes effected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of June 1990. The ADA has, inter alia, effected sweeping changes to provide equal access and freedom of movement/mobility for disabled individuals. Notably, various structural changes have been mandated to the construction of homes, sidewalks, and even parkway/river crossings, e.g., bridges, to enlarge entrances and provide ramped surfaces to ease mobility for disabled persons in and around society.
Furthermore, electrically-powered PMVs offer an environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline burning vehicles such as gas-powered scooters, mopeds, motorcycles, etc. Finally, various technologies have made the mass production of such PMVs fiscally rewarding to manufacturers and affordable for the consumer. For example, the development of long-life rechargeable power supply units, e.g., lithium batteries, fuel cells, etc., has made PMVs practical for everyday use.
While significant advances have been made, there are still many design challenges/limitations which require innovation and improvement. One such area relates to the transportability of such PMVs within other vehicles for use at other destinations. Generally, the size and weight of such PMVs presents challenges, even for individuals of considerable strength and dexterity, to lift the PMV into an automobile or disassemble the PMV into manageable subassemblies. Some of the heavier subassemblies to manipulate include the power supply units, e.g., rechargeable batteries, which, individually, can weight in excess of twenty 20 pounds.
Conventionally, each battery is mounted to a floor pan of the PMV by means of a pair of long threaded rods disposed on opposite sides of a battery for clamping the battery to the floor pan. Each rod has a L-bracket at one end for engaging an upper surface of the power supply unit and a J-hook at the other end engaging a mounting aperture of the floor pan. Further, each L-bracket includes an aperture for engaging and sliding longitudinally along the rod. The rod is urged against the battery by a conventional wing-nut. Consequently, to remove the battery, the wing-nuts are loosened to disengage the L-brackets and the rods are displaced sufficiently to enable the battery to clear the brackets. Generally, each battery will include a strap extending across its top to facilitate handling of the battery. While this assembly provides a positive mounting arrangement for attaching the battery to the floor pan of the PMV (such positive mounting being especially critical for batteries subject to motion or vibration), this mounting arrangement does not facilitate rapid removal and reassembly.
Other mounting arrangements designed with such assembly/disassembly attributes, typically include a hook & rail assembly or a channel & track arrangement disposed along the upper side surfaces of a power supply unit. A typical hook & rail assembly may include, for example, J-shaped hooks disposed in combination with a battery/battery box for being hung on a pair of parallel rails attached to and supported by the PMV frame. As such, the battery/battery box may be installed vertically and relies upon its own weight to prevent the hooks from disengaging the rails. While this mounting arrangement facilitates ease of installation or disassembly, it does not positively retain the battery/battery box and, consequently, may not be suited for certain PMVs which experience vertical motion/acceleration, e.g. travelling upon rough terrain.
With respect to channel and track mounting arrangements, channels are formed in combination with the battery/battery box and engage tracks attached to the PMV frame. Installation and disassembly of the battery/battery box requires that the channels slideably engage the track by insertion of the channels through an open end of the track. As such the battery/battery box does not “drop in” vertically (possible with the hook & rail assembly discussed supra), but slides in horizontally. While the channels and track can be configured to positively engage and retain the battery/battery box, the mounting arrangement requires that space be provided for the battery/battery box to slide in a horizontal plane for engaging the track. Accordingly, this mounting arrangement may be unsuitable for PMVs wherein space is a design constraint.
In addition to the structural and/or functional disadvantages of the prior art, the battery/battery box and/or mounting assemblies therefor produce an aesthetically unattractive external appearance. Consequently, such components and assemblies are typically occluded or hidden from sight by a more aesthetically pleasing chassis element or PMV component. For example, a contoured external fuselage or a seat/seat support assembly may be disposed over the battery/battery box to preclude viewing of the battery/battery box and/or mounting arrangement. Consequently, these elements or assemblies must be additionally removed to access and disassemble the battery/battery box.
A need, therefore, exists for an assembly which positively mounts a power supply unit to a base frame support, facilitates rapid disassembly/reassembly of the power supply unit from the base frame support, and produces an aesthetically pleasing external appearance.